3.5 STARS
I rarely ever read short books so to find a short romance that I didn't bail out on before the 20% mark is honestly unheard of. Short romance books often lack character development, a real plot, tend to be cheesy and lack that slow burn and pacing that I love.
This book surprisingly wasn't like that.
I liked being wrong about this one.
Jill is on the rebound from a co-dependent relationship focusing on her roots in the small town life with a new job and good friends. She is smart, sexy and tad bit awkward.
Her 'shittay' previous was a real low point for Jill. She really gave that relationship her all. Her unstable all-over-the-place childhood is blame for that.
When the relationship blew up in her face, not all was lost, she found her confidence underneath the rubble. Sometimes it takes a real asshole to show you exactly what you want out of life, and what you don't...yeah you know, you can nod your head.
Jill finds a man on the interwebs and decides to meet up at a place in the small town. It's not ideal situation. She is not confident her internet guy is not a serial killer, or some creeper blob on a couch but it's a start to getting back out on the dating scene.
Enter Lucas.
Not a serial killer.
Definitely not a creeper blob with his sexy bod.
Lucas is a sexy wander, a smooth talker with all the confidence and master avoider of emotional ties. He is all things mysterious. A real question mark that even had me going, hmm? A man that once had it all literally walked away from everything...but all Lucas did was take his problems on the road with him.
Lucas spots Jill.
Jill spots Lucas.
Sparks everywhere.
They have a honest and deep conversation about life shit that actually matters without drowning you in sexual expletives. A little conversational foreplay, so to speak. It's fun, it's playful, and informative without being an info-dump, ending with not-so-subtle, 'hey you want to do this.' Check please!
Jill has always been a relationship girl one night stands are not her forte. In the spirit of trying new things, Jill says screw it to the status quo and Lucas is there to help Jill with that. boom chicka wawa. It's playful and the back-and-forth chemistry sizzles.
If you were gonna have a one night stand with someone, you would want a man like Lucas. Not a complete arrogant prick, someone who is actually capable of thinking with his brain and not just the end goal in his pants. Needless to say, I love how Lucas handled the apprehensive Jill.
Safe to say that the one night stand doesn't exactly go down consequence-free. Life brings Jill and Lucas back together and how to move forward isn't exactly in the one night stand rule book. It will be a test of their chemistry to see if they can make one night thing, last forever.
* * *
So why not five stars?
For as short as this book was it had a plot and the pacing was legit. As a reader you had enough character details to make the story realistic. There were pleasant secondary characters that added to the plot. The dialogue between Jill and Lucas was meaningful and had real purpose. The author left a question for the reader to answer.
Well played author lady, well played.
Honestly, this short book delivered in those key areas where other longer books I've read have failed. The author handled it beautifully and I was genuinely impressed. This author just became my go-to-short-book person. I never thought I'd say that.
BUT...
The sex scenes were decent but a tad short. Full of glorious verbs and description language. However, I felt like there was something missing in that area. It wasn't hot enough or maybe that's my personal preference. It wasn't filthy, it wasn't exactly dirty either but I didn't not like it. It could have been more sexual, especially with such well written characters.
However, when I read these short books that always is a common issue, I want more, more—I'm greedy like that. If you are looking for a short pleasant read, not necessary epic love story, but a fun, full-circle, playful romance check this one out!